Advanced
Strategies by
Poker Black Jack
These are some general strategies
that you should employ when you are
in tougher games. Generally, the
best way to beat bad players is to
just play the basic strategies.
However, against good players you
need to use deception and other
skills.
Bluffing
Bluffing is a tool to be used
against good players only. Since bad
players will tend to call anything,
bluffing is generally worthless.
However, you can sometimes convince
a good player to lay down a hand he
shouldn’t. It’s generally best to
bluff by representing a hand.
Sometimes blindly betting will get a
player to fold if he has nothing,
but to make him fold something
requires that he really thinks he’s
beaten. This is easier to do at no
limit than limit. At no limit, you
can just put in a pot sized bet if
say a flush draw hit, but a good
player is likely to call just one
more big bet in a limit game.
In a limit game, it is generally
best to bluff early (at the flop),
as once a good player starts calling
big bets, he will be reluctant to
lay down his hand unless he was
drawing and missed. For example,
let’s say I am in late position or
the sb and have JQs. I raise so
maybe I will steal the blinds, but
the big blind calls. Flop comes K46
rainbow. I bet at the pot, he may
fold. I have nothing but there’s a
good chance he has nothing
Again, when you bluff, you need to
bet like you would bet if you had
the hand. Simply betting hard when
there is something scary is not
always wise, as good players might
get a little suspicious. If you bet
hard when you have the nuts, then
it’s fine to bluff hard when the nut
hand comes on the board. However, if
you tend to slowplay when you have
the nut hand, they might realize you
are bluffing.
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Slowplaying
This is the opposite of bluffing.
Slowplaying is deceiving your
opponent into thinking you have a
worse hand than you actually do.
Slowplaying is effective against
both good and bad opponents (bad
opponents just bet their hand, so if
they have something, they will pay
you off no matter what).
You do not want to slowplay when
there is a draw on the board that
can beat you; you want to slowplay
when someone has a hand that has
little chance of improving to beat
yours. For example, suppose A95 is
on the board. You have 99 and you
are certain your opponent has an
ace. It is probably best to wait
until the turn to bet hard, so you
can suck him in for at least one
extra big bet.
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Game Selection
Selecting
which game to play is a skill that
many good poker players never
develop fully. However, it is often
just as important as playing good
poker. If you are playing against of
other good players, then you really
don’t stand any better chance than
you do at the craps table. Keep good
notes of the players you have played
against and play in games where you
honestly think you are better than
the vast majority of your opponents.
If you are new, there are other
methods of choosing a game than
seeing familiar faces. In a limit
game, choose a game with a lot of
calling. This means that people are
going to the flop with subpar
starting hands and paying off people
when they should not be. If you are
playing a no limit game, look for a
game where people are passive, a lot
of light betting and calling. These
people will not muscle you out of
pots but are likely to pay you off.
This really isn’t a strategy to be
used against good players. This is
more of a strategy to avoid good
players!
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Changing Pace
Playing the same style of poker gets
boring and repetitive after awhile.
It is also a bad way to compete at
poker. If you consistently play
every hand the same way, you will
get too predictable. At random
intervals, you should mix up your
play. If you are playing very tight,
loosen up and vise versa.
This strategy is not really to be
used for limit games with 7 or more
players, but rather for no limit
games or shorthanded limit games,
where bluffing and table appearance
become more important. You also
don’t need to change your style of
game against bad opponents; they
don’t pay attention to how you are
playing anyway.
Avoid the Second Best Hand
Most of the money you will lose at
poker will not come from folding
your big blind preflop, but rather
being caught with the second best
hand. ‘Paying off’ the best hand is
why most people lose at poker. Now,
since you do not know what your
opponent has, it is obviously
impossible to fold whenever you are
beaten. However, you can often
prevent having the second best hand
by folding hands that may be
dominated preflop. If someone in
early position puts in a raise, fold
that AJ offsuit. Chances are he has
AK,AQ, or a pocket pair of JJ or
higher.
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Relative Hand Strength
Some hands do better in some
situations than others. For example,
mid and low pocket pairs do better
heads up or with many runners. In a
heads up situation, you are a
favorite against any non-poker pair
higher than yours (22 will beat AK
in the long run). However, once
there are two or more people in the
pot, your hand goes down in value
because you will need to hit a set.
However, if you hit a set, you will
probably win, so your hand goes back
up in value once more people have
entered the pot (say 5-6 handed).
When there are more people in the
pot, suited connectors go up in
value and big cards down. When you
have a hand like AQ, you want as few
of runners as possible so you can
with a pair of aces, queens, or
maybe even ace high. However, with
56s, chances are you will win
because you hit something exotic, so
you want as many people as possible
in the pot.
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